If control of their firms allows entrepreneurs to derive private benefits, it also allows other controlling parties. Private benefits are especially relevant for venture capitalists, who typically get considerable control in their portfolio firms, but not for banks, which are passive loan...

Recent research suggests that employment in young firms is more negatively impacted during economic downturns than employment in incumbent firms. This questions the effectiveness of policies that promote entrepreneurship to fight crises. We complement prior research that is mostly based on...

We study what type of entrepreneurs are affected by financial constraints. Our identification strategy exploits age-based discontinuities in the amount of funding available through a public program for unemployed workers. We find that access to funding increases the rate of entrepreneurship. The...

This paper investigates the influence of social capital on young firms' financing arrangements. Using a sample of U.S. start-ups, I find that social capital, as captured by secular norms and social networks in the entrepreneur's county, increases access to outside financing and reduces reliance...

We propose a theory of security design in financing entrepreneurial production, positing that the investor can acquire costly information on the entrepreneur's project before making the financing decision. When the entrepreneur has enough bargaining power in security design, the optimal security...

Recent research suggests that employment in young firms is more negatively impacted during economic downturns than employment in incumbent firms. This questions the effectiveness of policies that promote entrepreneurship to fight crises. We complement prior research that is mostly based on...

Research SummaryThis paper provides a review of the entrepreneurial finance literature in the surprisingly not very well integrated entrepreneurship and finance journals. Entrepreneurial finance encompasses venture capital, private equity, private debt, trade credit, IPOs, angel finance, and...

Using a large sample of angel and venture capital (VC) financing data from the Crunchbase and VentureXpert databases and private firm data from the NETS database, we address three important research questions. First, we analyze the relative extent of value addition by angels versus VCs to...

This study contributes to the current body of entrepreneurial finance literature by analyzing multiple aspects of personal guarantees. We conducted a survey yielding 1,462 responses from owners or managers of incorporated small businesses geographically dispersed throughout the United States. Of...

This paper considers a region in which some would-be entrepreneurs are in the network of a hub firm and the rest stand alone. Project ideas come in two types: good and not-so-good. Entrepreneurs need to borrow from banks or local financiers to start their projects. Local financiers receive a...